Our Carnival Venezia B2B - 21 days of "Fun Italian Style" (with pics) - 9/23/23

Jamman54 · October 19, 2023

From here Patti moves back up to Deck 11. The mid ship pool area is deserted. Where did everybody go?

Up here on the starboard side you’ll find a bocce ball court, table tennis, foosball tables, and even a huge Chinese checker game…..

Here are some views from Deck 11. It appears that the rain is letting up…..

To be continued…..

Jamman54 · October 19, 2023

Patti comes back to the cabin where we will wait for our sail away to start. Here is where we are, and where we’re going…..

The bow camera is telling us that sail away has begun!

We head back to Terrazza Carnevale for sail away. Here are some cloudy and rainy New York views. We’re praying that the sail away for the next cruise will be much nicer….

To be continued…..

Jamman54 · October 19, 2023

The top of the Freedom Tower is obscured by the clouds….

We are leaving lower Manhattan behind…..

We are now passing by Ellis Island…..

Lady Liberty always looks great, even when wet…..

Looking up at the aft Terrazza cabins…..

To be continued….

Jamman54 · October 19, 2023

At this point we made our way back inside. They were doing Karaoke in the Gondola Lounge so we passed through quickly…..

We had heard that our favorite alchemist, Zora, was on the Venezia, so once on board were able to find out that she was working at the Steakhouse in the Service Bar….

The Steakhouse Hostess went and told Zora that we were here, and then it was all smiles and hugs. She told us that for this cruise she was assigned to the Steakhouse, and also to Java Blue in the mornings. What a waste of talent! She hoped to be back at the Amari Bar for the Journeys cruise.

We then decided to eat at Bonsai Sushi tonight…..

Here is the menu / selection sheet…..

We both had the Miso soup…..

Patti ordered edamame, green salad, and California rolls…..

To be continued…..

Jamman54 · October 19, 2023

I ordered Kukuni, bang bang rolls, beef and chicken skewers, and a green tea cupcake…..

Everything was great. Good job Chef!

We went over to Amari for a drink, where we were joined by a couple of drunken T-Rexes……

Patti was going to browse the shops and then head back to the cabin. On the way she caught Misso performing in the Piano Bar…..

Music and Magic were performing in the Piazza San Marco…..

I went to the 9pm PG Comedy Show in the Limelight Lounge starring Tommy Savitt, who was pretty good. Afterwards I made my way back to the cabin. We have to set our clocks one hour ahead tonight. It’s great to be out at sea again!

Coming up next – The first fun day at sea. Diamond lunch, dinner at IL Viaggio, and Vintage Pop!

pirate4me2 · October 19, 2023

4 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

This is a very legitimate question, and this is our opinion. For us, the lack of a pool is a deal breaker, and we would not book a Terrazza cabin. The area is beautiful, which you will see in the next soggy segment.

1 hour ago, ramref said:

I just stayed in a Terrazza cabin and agree the area does not justify the price.

I was offered an upgrade from a standard balcony for $148 and it was worth it
for that price.

Thank you both for the info! I was leaning that way, guess if I book the Journeys cruise I’ll just go with a regular balcony. 🙂

Princess Cruiser27 · October 19, 2023

Great read Jeff. I was watching the one of the Web Cam's of the sail away. When I left Brooklyn that morning, I think one of NCL ships was "hanging out" near VN Bridge.

TravelGirlinDallas · October 19, 2023

50 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

From here Patti moves back up to Deck 11. The mid ship pool area is deserted. Where did everybody go?

Do they ever turn on this fountain? It looks empty.

ProgRockCruiser · October 19, 2023

42 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

OK, so I've never seen NYC from the water, or anywhere useful, really - just from the air flying in/out and the highways driving out. (That will change next year.)

So what's up with the giant mushroom planters in the river, the leaning towers of pizza boxes, and the mid-game jenga building?

(Nice shots by the way - the weather gives it a moody feel.)

ProgRockCruiser · October 19, 2023

1 hour ago, ramref said:

I just stayed in a Terrazza cabin and agree the area does not justify the price.

I was offered an upgrade from a standard balcony for $148 and it was worth it
for that price.

Thank you also for this remark. I'm definitely leaning towards a Cove balcony, perhaps - we loved ours on Breeze...

Jamman54 · October 19, 2023

4 minutes ago, TravelGirlinDallas said:

Do they ever turn on this fountain? It looks empty.

Don't know. I can't remember ever seeing it working. 😎

Cherries Jubilee · October 19, 2023

So excited to be along for this journey! I’m having a busy week and there is nothing like sitting back and reading a great review!

luvcruzing · October 19, 2023

1 hour ago, Jamman54 said:

Patti comes back to the cabin where we will wait for our sail away to start. Here is where we are, and where we’re going…..

The bow camera is telling us that sail away has begun!

We head back to Terrazza Carnevale for sail away. Here are some cloudy and rainy New York views. We’re praying that the sail away for the next cruise will be much nicer….

To be continued…..

Wow, Jeff, Patti is giving Sid real competition with these building photos.

Stallion · October 19, 2023

On 10/17/2023 at 6:47 PM, Jamman54 said:

We decided to head up to the Lido Marketplace on Deck 10. Also open for embarkation lunch on Deck 10 was Guys Burgers, Tomadoro, which is the equivalent of Blue Iguana Cantina plus some Italian fare, The Deli, Seafood Shack, and of course Pizza del Capitano. Outside on Deck 5 is the La Strada Grill which equates to the Pig & Anchor BBQ. We take the elevator up to Deck 10. The Venezia has the “Smart” elevators which we have begun to like. It just takes a day or so for everybody learns to use them properly…..

We decide to get our lunch from the Deli. On the way there we pass the Sweet Spot…..

We get to the Deli and there is only one person in line ahead of us. Patti orders the turkey sandwich on a pretzel bun, and I order a couple of chili dogs and fries…..

The Marketplace is pretty crowded so we decide to take our food to the RoCoco Bar by the mid ship pool. This bar is located where you would find the Blue Iguana Tequila Bar. Looking at the menus, you can see some of your favorites from the Red Frog and Blue Iguana……

They also have a variety of pre-made frozen drinks…..

Across the way, where the Red Frog Rum Bar would be, is the Java Blue Cafe. Kind of a weird location for it, but it did work for me…..

After we finished eating, Patti was going to begin her picture tour, and I was going to head all the way aft on Deck 10 to the Burano Pool Bar (Tides Bar).

To be continued……

Sit!

Stay!

Good Boy!

whynottry77 · October 19, 2023

On 10/16/2023 at 4:51 PM, Jamman54 said:

Ahoy, Cruise Critic family! My wife Patti and I have just returned from three weeks aboard the beautiful Carnival Venezia, from our homeport of New York City. These were B2B cruises, the first being a 6 day New England and Canada cruise to Portland, Saint John, and Halifax. The second cruise was a fifteen day Journeys cruise to Grand Turk, Aruba, Curacao, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, and St. Thomas, along with seven sea days.

There is quite a story on how we got to these cruises. We were originally booked on the Carnival Magic out of New York for B2B cruises, the first being an eight day cruise to the Caribbean, followed by a seven day cruise to Canada. We booked these cruises nearly two years out in order to get our favorite bowling alley balcony for both legs of the B2B.

Then Carnival made the announcement that they were moving the Magic from New York to Norfolk, and replacing her with the Carnival Venezia. We were both excited and disappointed at the same time. Now, we have been involved with ship changes several times, and each time Carnival transferred already booked passengers to similar accommodations on the new ship BEFORE opening bookings to new passengers. This time, Carnival opened up new bookings before taking care of existing passengers, which had to cause a public relations nightmare for them. The cruise boards were flooded with complaints from existing passengers on how Carnival didn’t give them similar accommodations. There were many upset people.

It took Carnival over three weeks to finally give us our new cabin assignments. Even our valued PVP couldn’t help us on this one. We were extremely unhappy. As I mentioned, we had been booked in a bowling alley balcony for both legs of our B2B. On the Venezia, it is a Terrazza Premium balcony, and it is more money. Carnival never had the courtesy to give us a call and at least offer it to us. It was sold out from under us almost immediately. We were assigned a different regular balcony cabin on each leg of the B2B. They weren’t even on the same decks, and both were connecting cabins! It was apparent that we were given the leftovers after three weeks of them taking new bookings.

At this point we were going to cancel and look at NCL or Royal Caribbean for this fall’s cruises out of New York, but then we spotted the Venezia’s fifteen day Journeys cruise. We found a regular balcony cabin we liked, so we called our PVP to book it. He also went to bat for us and got our non-refundable deposits from the Magic cruises transferred to the Journeys cruise without penalty. It turns out that this fifteen day Journeys cruise was about a thousand dollars less than the cost of the fifteen day B2B that we had booked on the Magic, so now we were feeling a little better.

The fifteen day Journeys cruise departed on a Friday and returned on a Saturday. We know how stressful it is getting into New York City on a weekday is, and should be avoided if possible. We saw that the six day cruise before the Journeys cruise departed on a Saturday so we booked it for a B2B. Now, we will depart and return on a Saturday, avoiding the weekday morning rush hours, and we get to go back to New England and Canada, which we both love. That’s a definite win-win! We weren’t able to book the same balcony cabin as we had on the Journeys cruise, so we booked an inside cabin around the corner, which will make for an easy move on turnaround day. So that’s how we wound up on the Carnival Venezia for twenty one days!

This is going to be a very long review. Being that this was a new ship for us, we were going to cover it like a glove, with lots of detail. Patti took over six thousand pictures during our time aboard her. I brought along my laptop so that I could download her pictures daily, and crop and resize them as needed. But even so, I couldn’t keep up with the amount of pictures she was taking. As I am writing this, I have completed all of pictures of the first cruise, and the first five days of the second cruise, more than enough to get this party started. I will continue to work on them daily until I am finished. For those that are wondering, our go to camera is the Canon PowerShot XS740 HS, and our water, and back-up camera, is the Fuji FinePix XP60.

Before we get started, let’s talk about the Carnival Venezia. Although she was built for Costa, she is a Vista Class ship. If you have been on the Vista, Horizon, or Panorama, you will know your way around. The major difference is the mid ship pool area on Lido Deck 10. It is boxed in just like the Splendor’s is, and has a retractable sliding glass dome. All the way aft on Promenade Deck 5 on the other Vista Class ships is the Havana Area and cabins. On the Venezia, this area is called the Terrazza Carnevale. The major difference is that there is no pool, and it is open to all passengers after 7pm.

As far as the bars and restaurants go on this ship, many have the names you are familiar with, and many are under different names. As the review goes on, I will point out the ones you may not be familiar with, and correlate them to the establishments you do know.

Okay, I think we’re ready to get started. Well almost. Two days before the cruise we get an email and a text from Carnival saying that because of Tropical Depression -16, which would later become Tropical Storm Ophelia, we are NOT to come to the Manhattan Cruise Terminal until a final decision on the cruise is made. Oh-oh!

The next day we get another email and text from Carnival saying that our cruise is on, and to report to the Terminal at our regular appointment times. Apparently, the storm was moving northward slow enough that we can board and get out of dodge before the storm hits late Saturday into Sunday. Yay, we’re going cruising!!!

To be continued…..

I just found this,I love your reviews and can't wait to read about your adventures. We were also had booked on the Magic in Sept. It was to be our first b2b and was excited about the Canada ports. We cancelled and rebooked 2 separate cruises. Our b2b experience will have to wait until another time when we can drag ourselves away from our 4 legged children

MeganGC1983 · October 19, 2023

13 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

Patti comes back to the cabin where we will wait for our sail away to start. Here is where we are, and where we’re going…..

The bow camera is telling us that sail away has begun!

We head back to Terrazza Carnevale for sail away. Here are some cloudy and rainy New York views. We’re praying that the sail away for the next cruise will be much nicer….

To be continued…..

This would be my luck… come to NY for the sail away… rain and clouds wah wah.

Roscoe13 · October 19, 2023

13 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

Don't know. I can't remember ever seeing it working. 😎

I bet at some point somebody throws a coin or two in there!

Jeafl · October 19, 2023

Following along. We aren't on the Venezia until May, but this is getting me excited already!

Haljo1935 · October 19, 2023

1 hour ago, MeganGC1983 said:

This would be my luck… come to NY for the sail away… rain and clouds wah wah.

That's what we had for our NYC sail away.😪💦

BroadwayGirl · October 19, 2023

16 hours ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

OK, so I've never seen NYC from the water, or anywhere useful, really - just from the air flying in/out and the highways driving out. (That will change next year.)

So what's up with the giant mushroom planters in the river, the leaning towers of pizza boxes, and the mid-game jenga building?

(Nice shots by the way - the weather gives it a moody feel.)

The mushroom like things are a park called "Little island". There's a very cool modern marvels or nat geo episode out on it's construction. It's a really cool place to walk and hang out and not feel like you're in the city at all.

TravelGirlinDallas · October 19, 2023

Wrong thread, sorry!

Edited October 19, 2023 by TravelGirlinDallas

ProgRockCruiser · October 19, 2023

1 hour ago, BroadwayGirl said:

The mushroom like things are a park called "Little island". There's a very cool modern marvels or nat geo episode out on it's construction. It's a really cool place to walk and hang out and not feel like you're in the city at all.

Thanks!

Jamman54 · October 19, 2023

2 hours ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

Thanks!

We thought they looked more like golf tees!

Jamman54 · October 19, 2023

Day # 2 - 9/24/23 - Sea Day # 1

Good morning everyone! Today we were up at 7am to a cloudy and rainy day. The seas are a little bit choppy. Here are today’s Fun Times…..

I get dressed and head up to the Java Blue Café on Lido Deck 10 to get my morning coffee…..

Our friend Zora is hard at work…..

I head back to the cabin to work on pictures for a couple of hours. This became my routine on sea days in an attempt to keep up with Patti’s picture taking. We are not eating breakfast this morning because the Diamond Brunch is at 11am. Patti grabs the camera and heads out to take pictures while most people are still sleeping. Patti heads up to Lido Deck 10. Here are a few shots of the choppy seas…..